Week 4: WORSHIP BEYOND THE WALLS
HOOK
THE SINGING BIRD
However, there are times when the birds can’t sing. That usually
happens when they are not feeling well, or in an uncomfortable position, or
feeling threatened.
I think that is a very natural behaviour — we can sing and worship
Jesus when everything is happy and good. But when we are not well, or
uncomfortable, or facing threats, can we still worship?
The birds
sing when they feel secure and safe.
The truth we have as children of God is that we can feel secure
and safe in any circumstances, wherever we are, because Jesus is always with
us.
That’s why
we can worship Him, no matter what, no matter where.
LESSON (ACT 16)
STORY
Let me tell you about 2 friends,
Paul and Silas.
Paul and Silas loved to tell people
about Jesus. One day, as they were telling people about Jesus’ finished work on
the cross, a young girl kept following them and shouting at them for many days.
She was a slave girl who had a bad spirit in her. Her owners used her to tell
people what was going to happen to them in the future, and people would pay a
lot of money to the owners.
Finally, Paul just commanded the
evil spirit to come out of a slave girl. And suddenly, the girl started to
behave like a normal person. She could not tell the future anymore. She could
not earn money for her owners anymore. So of course the owners were very angry.
They dragged Paul and Silas before the judges, who then ordered them to be
beaten up and put in prison.
So Paul and Silas were now in a
smelly, dirty, Roman prison. Their bodies were hurting because earlier, they
were beaten with rods. Their feet were bound fastened in stocks. They couldn’t
move freely. They were in this condition although they didn’t do anything
wrong.
[Idea: Make “stocks” out of cardboard
boxes and get 2 volunteers to sit at the front with their legs “locked up”.]
How do you think Paul and Silas
felt? How would you feel?
Do you know … Paul and Silas
could have sat there in the darkness, sulking and blaming each other? Silas
could have blamed Paul for getting them into trouble. Paul could have blamed
God for letting them get arrested.
Instead, as recorded in Acts
16:25, Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God in the prison! In
the midst of difficulties, they could still praise God. They could still thank
Him. They could still sing of His goodness and grace. Because they felt safe
and secure — they knew Jesus was with them, and that they do not need to fear
because He will work everything out for good.
And all the other prisoners could
hear them worshipping and praising Jesus.
But that’s not all. Suddenly
there was a violent earthquake that shook the entire prison. All the doors flew
open. All the chains came loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the doors
open, he thought everyone had escaped and he was going to kill himself with his
sword.
But Paul shouted out, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
The jailer turned on the lights,
rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. “Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?”
They
replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your
household.” They told the jailer and his family about Jesus. That night, the
jailer took them, washed their wounds, and then he and his whole family were
baptized! The jailer gave them a meal at his house.
From the darkest, most terrible
situation, God turned it into a miracle and used Paul and Silas to bring His
love and joy to the jailer’s household.
GOD IS GOOD
ALL THE TIME
Even when situations and
circumstances are bad — when we go through difficult times, or we are angry or
sad — we can remember that God is GOOD. And He makes ALL things (the good, bad
or ugly) work out for the good of us who love Him (Romans 8:28).
And when we know we have a GOOD God who is FOR us, we can trust
Him. We can be secure.
And when we are secure in His love and goodness, we can worship
Him no matter what. We can thank Him. We can praise Him.
When we praise Jesus, we are
telling ourselves and our problems that our God is bigger than everything else.
WE WORSHIP
WITH OUR LIVES
Worship is more than just singing
songs and clapping hands. We worship when we fully trust in Jesus and share His
love and grace to those around us. We can worship with our time, our money, our
talents. And we can worship Him in church … and out of church — every day of
our lives.
Let’s worship Jesus together!
CONCLUSION
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking
at how we can bring Jesus out of the walls of the church in our homes, schools
and neighbourhoods.
We learnt
that we can walk, open and stretch like Philip, who obeyed the Holy Spirit and
shared Jesus to the Ethiopian official.
We can pray for anyone anywhere in Jesus’
name, just like Peter and John did for the lame man at the Beautiful gate.
We can show Jesus’ love and compassion, like the Good Samaritan.
And like Paul and Silas, we can worship Jesus everywhere, in
whatever situation we are in.
HUDDLE TIME
In smaller groups, get the kids to share about challenging
situations they may be in now, and encourage each one to voice a prayer of
thanksgiving and praise to Jesus — to declare that He is working out their
situation for good.
WORSHIP
[encourage kids to follow the actions, raise their hands, clap etc
and sing out to Jesus]
